Before I knew it, the gunfire ceased. Smoke lifted in the room, a dark haze that bothered my nose. Lights flashed on with the power being reconnected.
Ivan barked a single laugh.
I almost felt like doing the same.
The sight that met us was a bloody, gruesome one. Bodies lay unmoving all over the room. Already, the Dubinin soldier we’d designated to document this was taking pictures. Another wore a body cam for video evidence. Both forms of proof that we’d done this would be confidential and kept in Luka’s personal vault for safekeeping. It wasn’t a matter of glory. We weren’t in this to claim that these deaths were ours to brag about.
It was insurance.
Because if anyone tried to gather in the future and try to form another version of this top-secret alliance, we would have the means to show them what happened to this one.
Just for you, Sadie.
The world is a little safer now.
That would only last until the next time. But in this moment, it felt good to have pulled this off.
“That was almost too easy,” Ivan quipped, stepping over the bodies.
“Only because of the help we had,” I reminded him.
If not for Sadie, we would’ve taken longer to know all there was about this Obsidian Eye group. My father had the start of intel, but it was because of her joining sides with us that we handled this operation so well.
“Ready when you are,” a spy told me.
I nodded once, acknowledging that he was in position to burn the place down. In case anyone dared to survive, we had plans to keep Dubinin men posted to supervise the explosion and consequent fire that would erase all evidence.
Everything they’d shared here would be destroyed.
All signs that we’d ever been here would be too.
While we had recorded what was said before we entered to kill them all, we didn’t need anything else from this site.
“It’s time to go home,” I told my cousins, relieved that we’d pulled off this assault so well.
Some of us had been wounded in one-on-one combat. We’d all taken hits, kicks, and some bullets that grazed our skin. But we were all intact, in one piece, and expected to return home as soon as possible.
Ivan patted my back as we filed out. I caught Alexsei’s sober but satisfied smile.
We’d done it.
And now the rest of my life could start.
One with a woman. A child. A home and a family of my own. A partner in crime, too, with Sadie’s expertise to guide us on espionage missions like this one.
Outside, we didn't have the need to blend in or stick with our disguises. My night-vision goggles hung from my neck, bouncing as I ran into the nearest SUV. Now, we had the usual caravan. The high-end vehicles that were bullet-proof. We’d rush out of here to the private airstrip and get the fuck out of the country before anyone could be the wiser about what went down.
I never wanted to leave loose threads after a kill, but I knew without a doubt that the Dubinin men who’d linger to set off the explosion and supervise the scene would handle it without any issue. That was how we worked, like a well-oiled machine, renowned for being victorious in any situation.
Before we sped onto the bigger road out of there, the explosion went off.
“And… done,” Ivan mocked, moving his hand to indicate a mic drop.
“We need to get out of here first,” Alexsei warned.
I nodded, reaching for my phone. Calling Sadie was the first thing I’d do. She had to be anxious for news, and I wouldn’t make her suffer and wait forever.
As I lifted the device to call her, I frowned at the buzzing indication that someone was calling me.
